In September 2015, the ACF Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) in collaboration with the Children's Bureau (CB) awarded a contract to Mathematica Policy Research to carry out the Design Options for Understanding Child Maltreatment Incidence. The purpose of this 18-month project is to develop design options for a potential future study or group of studies that would leverage existing administrative data, innovative methods, and advanced statistical techniques to obtain accurate and ongoing surveillance on both the incidence of child abuse and neglect and types of related risk. While research has advanced substantially over the past 20 years, the future use of innovative research methods and tools creates enormous possibilities for developing a better understanding of child abuse and neglect to inform practice and policy. Since the 1970s, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has supported efforts that provide national-level data on the incidence of child abuse and neglect. This project will allow for the identification and prioritization of key research questions; exploration of design options, including innovative methodological approaches; review of existing administrative datasets and ongoing surveys; examination of measurement issues; and consideration of resource allocation.